Charles de L'Arbre

39 years of experience in travel. I learned this profession from the ground up and from one of the recognized leaders in the profession—my father. Integrity in this business is paramount as is listening to the client, and then distilling their needs into a perfect and elegant solution. If there is one area of travel that I particularly enjoy, it is discovering wonderful hotels. In a very real sense, it is the last medium available that one can be truly creative with in this profession.

Unlike a lot of my colleagues, I consider myself to be a travel generalist in that I know something about almost everything and am prepared to work with our clients on nearly any sort of trip from a simple one-way to a highly complex round-the-world itinerary. I look for a life-long relationship with each client, which is based on a complete understanding of their needs and a mutual professional respect.

Areas of Expertise

Luxury travel, Golf Travel (Scotland, Ireland, Hawaii especially), Luxury Cruises, Country Hotels in the British Isles & Western Europe, Boutique Hotels, Driving Trips in Western Europe, and Entertainment Travel (Music, Film, & Television Production Travel).

Destination Expertise

Western Europe, Turkey, India, North Africa, Southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, Hawaii, anywhere there is a golf course.

EMAIL CHARLES(805) 869-1128

TRAVEL TIP

I’ll read anything recommended by people I trust. I swim a lot. Oh yes – and travel.

Charles Testimonials

"Charles De L'Arbre is a superior travel consultant dedicated to providing clients with the ultimate travel experience. His experience and knowledge of the world are unparalleled, and no one works harder to provide clients with hassle-free customized itineraries, helping select the perfect choices for vacation, business trip or corporate retreat, at the same time seeking absolute value for your money. He and his team are totally dedicated to exceeding your expectations. His enthusiasm is contagious. Charlie will normally recommend what he would buy himself, sharing his own experiences with his clients. But he is flexible as to budgets and timing. He is extremely well-traveled and committed, passionate about travel – and that comes from a natural desire to share his many travel experiences. His contacts in the cruise, hotel and airline industries are vast."

William TomickiENTREE Magazine

“Need another reason to use an expert travel agent? Wife and I on our way to London today for our annual conference we host. Delta sends us an email saying ‘your flight is delayed 50 minutes’.

Unfortunately, we booked a flight with one stop – 40% less. The delay, if you believed it, was only 50 minutes would put us on the edge of missing our connecting flight. I called Charlie, told him we’d appreciate his intervention and experience to see if he could get us the Virgin flight non-stop from SFO. (Understand, the upper class tickets are selling for $8,500 each. Crazy right?)

Greg C.

My wife and I have enjoyed recreational travel frequently during the past fifteen years. We have been to several continents. The vast majority of this travel has been booked through Charles de L’Arbre of Santa Barbara Travel in Santa Barbara, California. Charles himself is a world traveler and his knowledge and ideas have served us well. In planning a trip, my wife and I typically have a good sense of where we wish to travel and provide an outline of that to Charlie. He then fills in the schedule with his thoughts on special hotels and
excursions that he feels will be of interest. These trips have without exception proven to be enjoyable, interesting, and trouble free. We are forever grateful to Charlie for his creativity, attention to detail, and good spirit in looking out for our best interests in guiding us to enjoy seeing the world in style.

D.B.

For many years I made and booked all of our travel plans myself. A couple of years ago, my wife and I were considering a longer cruise which I felt was more than I could handle by myself. I remembered that Bill Tomicki publisher and editor of Entree Travel Newsletter had touted the praises of of Santa Barbara Travel, owned by David and Charles de L'Arbre. I called and talked to Charles and he and his company have been helping me ever since.

Charles is knowledgeable, well versed in the ways of the travel industry and the not to miss spots around the globe. He goes way beyond the norm of customer service. In fact on a recent cruise he looked over every tour and made suggestions as to what he thought we would enjoy.

Charles returns phone call and emails immediately. He is a joy to talk to and goes out of his way to make sure that no detail is overlooked. My wife and I have several long cruises coming up and Charles has helped us with all the details.

We can heartily recommend Santa Barbara Travel for anyone who is looking for a travel agency that goes beyond the norm and makes makes travels plans so much easier.

It has been a joy to work with Charles and Santa Barbara Travel.

Jon & Judy HarrisA Very Satisfied Customer!